Take this with a significant grain of salt for the moment, as well potential spoilers, but Michael Cudlitz has been making the rounds of Walking Dead promotion recently, whether speaking at TV festivals or giving interviews. That could seem like the red flag of someone about to depart the series, but Pop Sugar had a chance to speak with the actor, wherein he distinctly suggested Abraham would be sticking around:

Well, [Robert] Kirkman was never happy with the death Abraham had in the graphic novels. He always said it was sort of a last-minute decision and that he regretted how he took him out. I think transferring that specific death of the crossbow arrow through the eye to Denise was sort of an Easter egg for the audience who follow the graphic novels … It was a little gift just for them. Her death spurs on a whole bunch of other stuff, and then the audience knows that Abraham will continue for a while now.

Now we get to see what a world with Negan and Abraham both in it will be like. That’s something we don’t see in the graphic novels. So a lot of cool stuff happens. For me, knowing that his potential death had come and gone, it was a moment to go, “Oh cool, they really aren’t going to stick with what the graphic novel does.”

Cudlitz is practiced enough not to tip his hand too far, though the comment about Abraham and Negan sharing a world does leave an absence of wiggle room, if their first scene together ends with one killing the other. Then again, it wouldn’t be the first time TV or movies have stooped to outright deception to keep certain twists hidden.

We’ll find out more as we approach the October 23 premiere, but is Abraham long for The Walking Dead?